Talk to me about.....the Corolla T-Sport

Chris1712 said:
For the moment I'd really like this thread to STAY on factors about the car to consider when buying used.
Click to expand...

I'm sure you would, but this is a public discussion forum so if people want to comment on the alternatives then really i'm not sure how they can be stopped or even if they should be.

I have up to 4k to play with and these would appear to offer great value at this price.
Click to expand...

They are hugely dull, dreary cars and the '190' is a bit of a con - sure, it has 190bhp, but only at 8 billion squillion rpm so in normal driving it isnt all that.

So, any current owners or people with background knowledge. It seems my budget will grab me something 02-04 with 60-80k on it.

I want something more interesting than my 1.8 SXi Astra (W 2000)
Click to expand...

Then its absolutely the wrong car.

It'll get you to and from the shops in 100% reliability and rarely break but this is pretty much the only thing a Corolla has going for it.
 
Zuban said:
I think you wont really go wrong with one, there not as good as the competition in certain area's, but they are a good all round choice, which is probably why you've ended up thinking about one.

This was my old one, that was lowered on KW coilovers, which made the car a lot quicker because it cut down the epic amount of air going under the car at speed :D
Click to expand...

Spiffing :D. Looks a lot better dropped. Can I ask what are the service intervals on them. I'm assuming 1 year/10k but really want to know when belts are due. I'm guessing the ones ill be looking at are going to be approaching this age/mileage.

Any other major maintenance things on them? Have any problems with yours?
 
[TW]Fox;15773417 said:
I'm sure you would, but this is a public discussion forum so if people want to comment on the alternatives then really i'm not sure how they can be stopped or even if they should be.



They are hugely dull, dreary cars and the '190' is a bit of a con - sure, it has 190bhp, but only at 8 billion squillion rpm so in normal driving it isnt all that.

So, any current owners or people with background knowledge. It seems my budget will grab me something 02-04 with 60-80k on it.



Then its absolutely the wrong car.

It'll get you to and from the shops in 100% reliability and rarely break but this is pretty much the only thing a Corolla has going for it.
Click to expand...

I wondered where Fox was. Care to recommend some alternatives that meet my criteria and that I haven't already discarded?
 
It rather depends what you want.

A reliable hatch?
A practical hatch with a bit of go?
A proper hot hatch?

Obviously if you want a proper hot hatch a Renault Clio 172 is absolutely unbeatable at this money. For a sort of halfway house I'd be looking at something like a Focus ST170 or a Seat Leon Cupra if you can justify the additional costs.

You mention the Celica - its a 3 door hatchback as well so really almost as practical as the Corolla?
 
Chris1712 said:
Spiffing :D. Looks a lot better dropped. Can I ask what are the service intervals on them. I'm assuming 1 year/10k but really want to know when belts are due. I'm guessing the ones ill be looking at are going to be approaching this age/mileage.

Any other major maintenance things on them? Have any problems with yours?
Click to expand...

cant remember the intervals but i think its higher than that, there timing chain, so no belts to worry about. I had no problems at all, i just did regular oil changes, there very easy cars to work on aswell.
 
[TW]Fox;15773495 said:
It rather depends what you want.

A reliable hatch?
A practical hatch with a bit of go?
A proper hot hatch?

Obviously if you want a proper hot hatch a Renault Clio 172 is absolutely unbeatable at this money. For a sort of halfway house I'd be looking at something like a Focus ST170 or a Seat Leon Cupra if you can justify the additional costs.

You mention the Celica - its a 3 door hatchback as well so really almost as practical as the Corolla?
Click to expand...


Chris1712 said:
The problem is I've looked at other cars, and the corolla has come out on top.

Just trying to remember others i've researched/considered......


Clio 172/182 - Love the idea of this and they are within my budget. However, they're just so small! I had a Clio (Phase 3 i think) as a courtesy car for 3 weeks and your pretty much shoulder to shoulder with the passenger, whacking their knee every gear change. I would like to stay around this mid family hatch range really. I am quite happy to go up in size but generally the kind of performance increase I would like is not available without sitting in a 3.0 V6, which so far have been uninsurable.

Seat Leon Cupra 1.8 20VT - Love these, but the pre-facelift looks phenomenally boring in non sport guise and the sport seems to be not so easy to come across. Plus they tend to be either pre 2001 for the money, OR 110k+.

Civic Type R - Arguably in the same ball park as the T-Sport, with better handling and better image. However, not in my budget.

Astra 2.0T - I do (sort of) like my astra and by all accounts these seem like an entertaining drive and an alright looker in 3dr SRi + Irmscher guise, but i want a change. i really like the new shape (shoot me) but they're not in budget.

ST170 - Don't particularly like the old shape Focus, is why I ended up with an Astra in the first place.

306 GTI-6 - Had a 306 dTurbo (TORKS!!!) as my first car and loved it, but again don't seem as good 'value' as a Corolla.


Thats all that I can remember at the moment, been perusing the market for ~6 weeks.
Click to expand...


Somewhere between:
A practical hatch with a bit of go? & A proper hot hatch?
is what I'm after.
 
What I dont understand is how you can say a Leon looks 'phenominally boring' - not just normally boring but 'phenominally boring' and then go on to favour a Toyota Corolla which I'm pretty sure has actual won awards for being the most dull car in the universe. You can always retrofit a bodykit to the Leon.
 
[TW]Fox;15773562 said:
What I dont understand is how you can say a Leon looks 'phenominally boring' - not just normally boring but 'phenominally boring' and then go on to favour a Toyota Corolla which I'm pretty sure has actual won awards for being the most dull car in the universe. You can always retrofit a bodykit to the Leon.
Click to expand...

I'll admit the Corolla is not much of a looker, but I find the Leon of the same age less visually appealing. I don't particularly care whether other people think my car is pretty.

media9.jpg

Not pretty IMO, a lot of trim going on.

media8.jpg

Fapping gorgeous, but either older or over 100k for the same money.

media3.jpg

Not an inspirational looker, but at least modern and tidy.

media10.jpg

Prettier.

I feel like I'm presenting evidence to court with all this!
 
Is a mini Cooper too impractical? £4k is pushing the limits of availability for them but they're quite fun and as far as I know, not hugely unreliable...
 
A £4k Mini will be a trashed heap of crap abused by a woman for the last 8 years.

You do realise the difference between those Leons is about 500 quid of tat from Ebay, right? They are even the same year! One just has the facelift bodykit, its not difficult to source nor fit.
 
I owned one for a couple of years . .super reliable, but too much body roll as standard. I fitted Fensport springs and a TRD front strut bar and it transformed it, much more sporty feeling and direct.

Nothing ever went wrong with it, and it is a hot hatch, regardless of what some on here would have you believe. The engine has to be worked hard, but is rewarding when you get it right, the positive side to this is that its also pretty economical when not in lift.
 
[TW]Fox;15773689 said:
A £4k Mini will be a trashed heap of crap abused by a woman for the last 8 years.

You do realise the difference between those Leons is about 500 quid of tat from Ebay, right? They are even the same year! One just has the facelift bodykit, its not difficult to source nor fit.
Click to expand...

Yeah a Mini is not for me. I certainly do understand that its about 500 quid of tat from ebay, plus spraying and fitting. However, thats 500 quid of tat I wouldn't need to chuck on the Corolla. I flat out do not 'want' a Leon. I do entertain the idea of a Cupra R in a few years, but ones simply not possible for me now, with my budget etc. Currently, I do 'want' a Corolla, hence my thread on help and advice buying and owning one.

[TW]Fox;15773697 said:
I suspect given thats the car he posted a picture of he already knows that.. ;)
Click to expand...

Indeed.
 
Chris1712 said:
However, thats 500 quid of tat I wouldn't need to chuck on the Corolla.
Click to expand...

True, it leaves more money for a tartan rug, a box of tissues and a copy of Saga Holidays.

Go and drive one. Seriously. I've not driven a T Sport only a regular one but in order to make it anything better than OMG AWFUL they'd need to have nuked it and rebuilt it from scratch not just dropped it on better suspension and fitted an irritatingly revvy VVTi engine.
 
[TW]Fox;15773803 said:
True, it leaves more money for a tartan rug, a box of tissues and a copy of Saga Holidays.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Maybe one of those fancy boxes you see in the back of Mercedes taxi's that look like buildings. Maybe grab some wooden bead seat covers while I'm at it.

Feel free to throw more compelling fact based evidence to not look at these cars.
 
There are no 'facts' which tell you not to buy it. It goes, it stops, it goes around corners and it wont break.

Buying a car is about more than 'facts' like percentage reliability, 0-60 time and top speed.

With a car history such as yours perhaps its a good idea to trust others as you cant pick a good one yourself :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom